<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Effect of temperature, salinity and light intensity on the growth of <i style="">Gracilaria</i> spp. (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta) from Japan, Malaysia and India </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Species of <i style="">Gracilaria</i> Greville were collected from Japan, India and Malaysia. Growth rate experiments were conducted at different temperatures, salinities and light intensities. <i style="">Gracilaria vermiculophylla</i> was found to be the fastest growing species with a growth rate of 22.32%. The growth rates of all species varied with salinities, but most of them attained their optimum growth rates at a normal seawater salinity 35‰. During the temperature tolerance experiments, it was observed that only <i style="">G. vermiculophylla</i> had a high temperature tolerance limit of up to 35°C. The temperate and the tropical species of <i style="">Gracilaria</i> were divided into three groups depending upon their optimum growth rates at the optimum temperatures. Group I consisting of <i style="">G. arcuata</i> and <i style="">G. textorii</i> from Japan with optimum growth rates at 20°C. Group II consisting of <i style="">G. vermiculophylla</i>, <i style="">G. incurvata</i> from Japan and <i style="">G. foliifera</i>, <i style="">G. corticata</i> from India with optimum growth rates at 25°C, while group III consisting of <i style="">G. edulis</i> from India and <i style="">G. lichenoides</i> from Malaysia with optimum growth rates at 30°C. </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>